Cape Town / Johannesburg Photographer Jurgen Banda-Hansmann

Matthias contacted me for a corporate headshot session. He was looking for something different to a picture in front of a white background. We started in studio with natural light, which gave us some unidirectional soft light and allowed me to photograph literally focusing on his eyes. We played around with some flash options and finally decided to continue the shoot in our garden.

We recently started a vegetable garden and also have some fruit trees. (If you live in Cape Town, speak to Mike from Owngrown for your own garden.) Matthias has an active interest in Permaculture and our garden designed leaned towards some interesting conversation. It is here surrounded by indigenous plants that we got the shots, I was looking for. Have a look for yourself.

My favorite camera and lens combo used to be the Fuji X100s with the built in 23mm/2.0 lens. It is a stunning combo and is probably one of the most versatile setups.

During our trip to Paris earlier this year, I made an interesting discovery: I really love shooting with the 35mm/1.4. Though I can’t shoot as wide as with the X100s, it is also versatile and for my style of photography more useful for portraits. The tighter angle and brighter aperture lets me separate my subject nicely from the background.

The lens has it’s own character, which I like. The autofocus could be faster, but for most contexts is fast enough.

What makes the Fuji X100s makes so beautiful is the optical viewfinder. That is where the Fuji X-Pro2 comes in. The improved hybrid viewfinder can combine the optical viewfinder with the electronic viewfinder by displaying the focus area as electronic image. Fuji calls this Electronic Rangefinder. I call it practical.

The optical viewfinder lets me look beyond the area of my lens, which works great for street or events photography. For portraits you will face challenges with the fact that the viewfinder is looking at the subject from a slightly different angle than the lens. The technical term for this is parallax error. By using the Electronic Rangefinder, I can ensure that focus and exposure are correct for the focused area. I use this feature a lot.

Locks in Paris

Fuji film simulations are amazing and for my personal work, I use them almost exclusively. They are that good. The Fuji X-Pro2 and 35mm/1.4 are a combo I enjoy most. When I go out for a walk, it is what I take with.

I am eying the 35mm/2.0, though. It is weather sealed, has faster autofocus and is a bit smaller. For now, I am happy with what I have.

Last December and January, I spent in Germany and experienced my first snow in years. Here is one of my favourite pictures of a snow landscape close to #Monschau While this happens in the north, I look forward to Cape Town summer.#winter #summer #snow #germany

Althea and myself visited Paris for the second time in April this year. Even after the terror attacks, the city is magic. One of the many things, I enjoyed was to get up early in the morning to go to tourist attractions, when they were without people. Notre Dame became almost a pilgrimage for me. I didn’t manage to visit the inside of the cathedral during this visit, but you always need to keep something exciting left for the next one. We stayed in a Airbnb in a normal non tourist neighborhood. Without speaking French, it made many things adventurous, including ordering meals at the restaurant in the street we stayed and hoping the best when we ordered our food (even with the help of ambitious translators). Food in the little restaurants off the beaten track are amazing full of character and without attitude. #france #paris #fuji #fujifilm #x100s #travel #journey #notredame #sacrecoeur

Bridget and Claudia form Asentiv asked me to photograph corporate portraits for them to use on their website and social medial profiles. Zelda o’Brien from Pretty in the City performed once again her Make-up magic.

We shot on location in Century City. The light was beautiful and flashes and light modifiers stayed in the bag. I enjoyed just shooting with the Fuji X-Pro2 and the 56/1.2 and 35/1.4 lenses.

What is Asentiv? Let Claudia answer it:

“Asentiv South Africa is an international training company that focuses on Referral Marketing and Networking. Improve business performance and get results with our coaching and workshops. For decades we have been working with business owners to help them reach their true potential. How helpful would it be to leverage the relationships you already have, attract new clients with ease, and enjoy the process? We can show you how.

Our next Certified Networker 3 Intensive program is a 3 day workshop starting on 30 November. Contact ClaudiaL@asentiv.com for more info.”

One of the things, my wife and myself enjoy doing, especially in summer are morning walks along the beach in Muizenberg. When we make it early enough, the walk along the water is empty and the light might be dramatic.

On this morning, I decided to take the Fuji X-Pro2 and the Fuji XF 35mm/1.4 lens with me. I am working on a long term user report (not review) and one of the impressive feature of the camera is the film simulations. My aim was to produce some high contrast images and selected the Acros R mode, with HTone set to +3, STone set to +3 and Sharp set to +2. For the majority of the images, I worked with spot metering.

I shot in the combo of JPG and RAW. The images you see here are all from the JPG selection with if any, minor adjustments in Lightroom. The images look great straight out of camera, but often you can improve them by adjusting, Blacks, Whites, Shadows and Highlights.